Business Forum: Diagnosing Your Business

To measure a person's physical
health, physicians use certain standards
— proper weight, cholesterol
count, lung capacity, and the like.
Without ever seeing the patient,
a doctor can predict health and
longevity based simply on the numbers.
Similarly, you can track the
health of your business using what I
call baseline numbers. And just as a
physician may prescribe a workout to
help you lose weight, you can use your
baseline numbers to diagnose business
problems and decide on a course that
will improve your company's performance.
What Are the Baseline Numbers?
Many builders already monitor the
financial performance of individual
jobs by comparing actual job costs to
estimated costs in categories such as
foundation, framing, finish carpentry,
and so on.